90s in 90 Days #57-Slapstick memories

Brendan Kelly, currently of Lawrence Arms, has deep roots in the Chicago punk community. In the 90s, he played in the fondly-remembered Slapstick, and the more-popular-after-their-demise Broadways.

Kelly remembers some of his favorite shows, “Slapstick had these two big shows out in Elgin that were actually called ‘The Big Shows.’ It was all these bands, all our friends–Apocalypse Hoboken, Oblivion, Sidekick Kato, 88 Fingers Louie, Tricky Dick, The Bollweevils –every single band played that you can think of, and it happened twice in the course of about six months. And those shows were like, at the Wonderland Ballroom. It was over 1,000 people and I was like 17 or 18 years old and I remember seeing all these bands that kinda got me into playing punk rock at this local level and they were all playing. And then all the kids were there and they wanted to see us play, and we played, and it was great–both times. Both shows were really pretty amazing.”

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90s in 90 Days

Over the course of 90 days (not consecutive, though I’ll try), I’ll be offering up a capsule look at something about Chicago music from the 90s. It could be a radio memory. Thoughts on a song, show, band, or album. Maybe a review aided by hindsight. Whatever it is, it’ll be original content just for this site, and not found in my book.